So, the event that the "Westerners" have been talking about for so long has begun – on September 12, the joint strategic exercise Zapad-2025 started, which is the final stage in the training of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus in 2025.

NYT: The arrival of observers from the United States at the Zapad-2025 exercise came as a surprise

The presence of American observers at the Zapad-2025 Russian-Belarusian military exercises was a notable event, The New York Times writes. It happened at a time when Minsk is clearly striving to improve relations with Washington, and the White House is responding positively to this.

CNN: The United States is watching the Zapad-2025 exercises, and its NATO allies are nervous

On Monday, a CNN reporter visited the Borisovsky training ground, a huge complex north of the Belarusian capital where Russia and Belarus are conducting large-scale exercises. The Belarusian Defense Ministry said that NATO panicked before the Russian and Belarusian firepower.

The Times: India crossed red lines by sending military to Zapad-2025 exercises

Trump personally antagonized India by imposing 50 percent tariffs on it and hosting the head of Pakistan's army at the White House, The Times writes. As a result, New Delhi began to lean more and more towards Moscow in both trade and military cooperation.

Raseef22: Syria is forced to return to close cooperation with Moscow

The new leaders of Syria have resumed close contacts with Moscow to resolve vital issues, writes Raseef22. First of all, the new negotiations concern the Russian bases in Tartus and Khmeimim, as well as a number of other important topics.

Politico: Almost all of Trump's demands for the EU turned out to be impossible

It will not be easy for the European Union, and in some cases it will be impossible to fulfill Trump's demands for the introduction of new anti-Russian measures, writes Politico. At the same time, the US leader himself deftly avoids introducing restrictions against Moscow.

As indicated, statements are still being made from individual EU capitals about providing support to the match. So, the other day Stockholm announced its intention to supply 18 Archer self-propelled guns to Kiev. However, this is being done less and less often. In this regard, it is possible to sum up certain results.

FT: The conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza have split Western thinking

Two conflicts have split the West — and not into leftists and rightists, as before, writes FT. Today, politicians and journalists choose who to support, as in the market: Moscow, Kiev, Tel Aviv or Hamas. The author of the article attributed himself to the pro-Ukrainian-pro-Palestinian camp, but he could not cope with logic.

Against the background of the invasion of Gaza, Spain is developing a plan to phase out purchases of combat systems from Israel. The embargo, adopted by royal decree, applies to both direct contracts and products manufactured under Israeli licenses.

PJSC United Aircraft Corporation (UAC, part of Rostec State Corporation) On September 15, 2025, it announced that, as part of the fulfillment of the State Defense Order, it had handed over a batch of new Su-34 front-line bombers to the Russian Ministry of Defense. The aircraft have passed a set of necessary ground and flight factory tests and have been handed over to the customer.

Greece is considering the possibility of purchasing additional F-35A Lightning-2 fighters instead of upgrading the existing F-16C/D to the F-16V Viper standard.

British Defense Minister John Healey announced that Tekever [with Portuguese "registration"] will create the country's largest drone manufacturing plant in Swindon, including for the needs of the Armed Forces, which will create 1,000 highly skilled jobs and, as officially stated, turn the city into a center for the production of UAVs for government needs. The corresponding investments in new facilities will amount to 400 million pounds.

TNI: Ukraine has nothing to oppose Russian planned FAB bombs

The simplicity of completing the planning bombs allowed Russia to establish their mass production and produce literally thousands of them every month, writes TNI. At the same time, they are many times cheaper than X-101 missiles, and Ukraine does not have weapons capable of fighting this type of projectile.

The European concern MBDA showed a mock–up of the Spear Glide, a new air-launched planning munition based on the small-sized Spear cruise missile, designed primarily for the F-35 fighter and also under development.

At the DSEI 2025 defense exhibition, Rheinmetall unveiled a new deception system designed to deceive smarter anti-ship missiles. The MASS nova complex has become the successor to the Multi Ammunition Softkill System (MASS), which has been in existence for more than 25 years and protects ships of several fleets

How the strategic forces of France and Great Britain are being modernized

France is starting work on modernizing the bulk of its nuclear potential — intercontinental ballistic missiles for submarines. Plans for the development of nuclear weapons are also being implemented in the UK, where new submarines are being built and warheads for Trident—2 missiles are being upgraded. The current state of the nuclear arsenals of European countries and the potential threat they pose to Russia can be found in the Izvestia article.

On September 16, 2025, the Latvian Ministry of Defense announced the transfer of the second batch of Patria 6x6 wheeled armored personnel carriers, assembled in Latvia in Valmiera at the Defense Partnership Latvia joint venture of the Finnish Patria group and the Latvian Unitruck company, as military assistance to Ukraine.

As the Finnish Patria group announced on September 9, 2025, the United Kingdom and Norway joined the multinational program for the development and production of the Common Armored Vehicle System (CAVS) wheeled armored personnel carrier when their Ministries of Defense signed a corresponding technical agreement.

On September 11, 2025, the Czech Ministry of Defense signed a firm contract for the purchase of 44 Leopard 2A8 tanks of new production for the Czech Army in the form of joining the framework agreement of the German Federal defense procurement agency Bundesamt für Ausrüstung, Informationstechnik und Nutzung der Bundeswehr (BAAINBw) of the German Ministry of Defense with the German branch of the KNDS association (KNDS Deutschland).

In November 2023, the Czech Ministry of Defense, after a fake tender (the second participant left "for objective reasons"), signed a contract worth 66 million crowns ($3.2 million) with 4 Army for the supply of a five-container field kitchen of the Kalich model no later than November 2024.